


In the Shadow, In the Light

by Kingrey



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M, and a little spoopy because halloweeeeeen, hurt/comfort but not much comfort gfdghds, i don't even know what to tag it's a bit weird you'll see, this is sad you've been warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingrey/pseuds/Kingrey
Summary: Everything felt wrong. She felt wrong, the caravan felt wrong, Cassandra was still mad at her for burning her hand, Lance was feeling more and more isolated because he didn't really have a friend to talk to, and she was missing something, she knew she was, but she didn't know what and it was driving her crazy. A single piece of a puzzle she couldn't see, but without it, everything came crumbling down, and she was- she was exhausted.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44





	In the Shadow, In the Light

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, 'tis I!! Technically it's halloween in France, and still FitzFriday in the US, so perfect time to post this ahah
> 
> It's... Kinda weird and sad, but I hope you'll enjoy it!!

Silently, Rapunzel brushed Maximus' mane, finding solace in the slow and repetitive movement. It was ironic, in a way, because she had spent her life brushing her own hair, but there was something soothing in taking care of a friend, and she knew Maximus wouldn't stay so still if it wasn't for her. She tried to convince herself they were helping each other, and gently brushed it again, even though no knots remained.

These last weeks had dragged on slowly. She didn't know when it started; when the beauty of a world she had yet to discover became not enough to keep her going, but lately, everything had felt wrong to Rapunzel. A melancholy she couldn't grasp had fallen heavy on her shoulders, and left the world dull and unrecognisable. She had tried to fake her enthusiasm, persuaded that whatever funk she had fallen into wouldn't last, but she had been wrong on that count.

She felt empty. Drained, but unable to understand what she could even be missing.

It reminded her of the worst days in her tower. The days when Gothel -Mother at the time, the only person she could count on, the only person she _loved_ \- had been gone on one of her trips, and Rapunzel had been left alone. The days when everything seemed gray, and sad, and devoid of any life; the days when her paints weren't enough to cover the sadness gnawing at her slowly, when looking at her window physically hurt and nothing seemed to be able to comfort her.

But Rapunzel was free now. She had friends, and a family that was waiting for her in Corona, and no reason to feel as lost and desperate as she had back then. And yet… 

A high-pitched yell interrupted her thoughts, and both her and Maximus jumped to their feet -hooves?- and turned towards the caravan. Even Pascal, who had been relaxing next to them, squeaked in alarm. The door slammed open, and Lance tumbled out before scrambling to get even further away, still screaming continuously.

"Lance? Everything's alright?" Rapunzel asked, relaxing anyway because this wasn't a truly rare occasion. Lance was spooked by something at least twice a day, and going by Maximus' annoyed neighing, he had concluded that this wasn't serious too.

"The- the- the caravan!" Lance stuttered, rushing to hide behind Rapunzel. He pointed a trembling finger towards it, as if she needed indications to find it. "It's haunted," he then whispered loudly.

Rapunzel sighed. They had had this discussion a lot, these last months. She agreed that some weird stuff was going on around the caravan, but a ghost? She _had met_ a ghost, and Ruth hadn't exactly been invisible - Rapunzel was pretty sure no ghosts were inhabiting the caravan right now. They would _notice_.

"What happened?" she still asked, feeling bad about not giving Lance enough credit. She may be sad, but it was no reason to take it out on her friends.

"You know the night table I told you about this morning?"

"The one Shorty broke?"

"Yeah well, it's not broken anymore!" Lance exclaimed, moving his arms wildly. "Something fixed it, and I'm willing to bet that it's…" he interrupted himself, before quieting his voice. "It’s _the ghost_."

"Maybe Cass repaired it," Rapunzel tried, but was immediately shushed.

"No no no, stop using that flawed logic on me Princess. You _know_ something has been going on!" Lance crossed his arms, fixing her with a hard glare when she made a face. "How do you explain all the stuff getting fixed without any of us doing it?"

"Someone is trying to be nice?"

"Yeah, and what about the mysterious force that helped us escape that bear two weeks ago? Or the one that stopped you from falling off the edge of a cliff?"

"... strong wind?" She could feel the grimace on her own face. Lance was unimpressed.

"And the notes? Do you have an explanation for those?"

Rapunzel did _not_ have an explanation for the notes that kept popping up in the caravan. They were all pretty much the same: some unrecognisable scribble, often because the ink had run before drying and the word was smudged beyond recognition. With it, though the words differed, the message stayed pretty similar: "it's Matthews' fault". It has been a while since they left the House of Yesterday's Tomorrows, but his name still made everyone uneasy. And perhaps, the freakiest part about the whole experience was that these notes were written in their own handwriting, with none of them ever remembering doing that.

Most of these notes had been in Rapunzel's handwriting, but everyone had a turn. Though Cassandra had gone to search for food, Rapunzel knew she would agree with Lance on this. She had been the most worried about these notes, and what they meant for them - were they being possessed in order to write that? No one had any answer, Rapunzel least of all, and she knew everyone was waiting on her to figure it out.

Her shoulders slumped. The headache she had gotten rid of by taking care of Max made a nasty comeback. She didn't have enough energy to deal with these sorts of things, nowadays.

"Rapunzel…" Lance hesitated, before putting a warm hand on her shoulder. "I- We all know something has been bothering you lately. I didn’t mean... I guess the caravan can be a little haunted as long as nothing happens, right?" He laughed awkwardly at this, before softening again. "I hope you know that, whatever you're going through, we're all here for you."

It should have helped her. One of her best friends was offering her kindness and compassion, and she should- she should have felt comforted. But his hand was too warm and too big against her, his eyes not the right shade of brown, his voice too deep and… And she had no idea of who she was even comparing him to. Logic didn't matter, however, and the warmth she should have felt turned into dread, the pit in her stomach ever growing.

She was missing something. It didn't feel like she could ever know what.

"I- I'll go check on the table," she grinned nervously, escaping his gaze. "Look after Max and Pascal for me, okay?"

Before any of them could respond, she turned around and ran to the caravan. She was a coward, and she knew it, but she couldn't stand her own state anymore, and she would take the maybe-haunted caravan over feeling adrift and ungrateful any day. Lance deserved more than she felt able to give. When she entered the caravan, it looked exactly how she had left it, except for the light that had burned out. It wasn't dark enough that she couldn't see, however, so she didn't bother lighting it back up.

Slowly, she got closer to the table. This morning, she had seen how its foot was bent and nearly broken because Shorty had fallen on it. Now, the foot was straightened out and held in place by carefully applied tape, and the splinters had been smoothed out. It was good work. Nothing that someone would want to hide, especially not since they were all worried about possibly being haunted. Rapunzel sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time, this mystery just another weight on her shoulders.

Should she… simply try to ask the maybe-ghost if it wanted anything? Would it answer?

She went to sit in the extra bed this side of the caravan had, putting her head in her hands. Everything felt wrong. She felt wrong, the caravan felt wrong, Cassandra was still mad at her for burning her hand, Lance was feeling more and more isolated because he didn't really have a friend to talk to, and she was _missing_ something, she knew she was, but she didn't know what and it was driving her crazy. A single piece of a puzzle she couldn't see, but without it, everything came crumbling down, and she was- she was exhausted.

Something warm brushed her hair. When she raised her head, nothing was here.

She hadn't noticed, but on the bed next to her was a book. She picked it up curiously, not sure about who had packed it. The spine was worn out, and the colours on the cover had faded, signs that this was a beloved and often consulted book - and yet, Rapunzel had no memory of ever seeing it. Was it Lance's? She doubted it was Shorty’s. Despite the wear, the title, which was nowadays a dull golden colour, but must have shone at some point, was still clearly visible: _The Tales of Flynnigan Rider_.

Carefully, Rapunzel opened it, browsing the pages without truly reading. She didn't remember from where, but she recognised these stories as if they were old friends and, for the first time in what felt like forever, her heart fluttered and something not unlike happiness made a smile appear on her lips. Somehow, she knew these adventures by heart, and even though she was skimming through the book, she could nearly hear them be told by a voice she didn't recognise. It was a beautiful voice, its intonations feeling like sunlight and laughter to Rapunzel.

There was a weight beside her. Her eyes left the book and met Eugene’s, his gaze soft and somewhat sad - until he saw that she was looking at him, and his face turned into one of surprise.

"Sunshine?" he whispered faintly.

"Eugene," she exhaled, heart beating loudly in her chest because- because everything made sense, now, and nothing did, because it was _Eugene_ she was missing but how- How could she have forgotten, how could they all have-

"Rapunzel," Eugene repeated, taking her hands in his trembling ones, as if he had guessed she was trying to get up. "Rapunzel, I-"

"What’s going on? Why did I forget you, why can’t I see you?" she babbled desperately, getting up anyway as Eugene followed her movement. "I knew something was wrong, I knew- But I couldn’t remember, why couldn’t I-"

"Sunshine, please." His interruption sounded so much like pleading, his voice more fragile than she had ever heard it - she bit her next panicked words back, and held his hands tighter. "This never lasts long, so… Please, can we, uh, talk?"

His hands were still shaky. Hers were too. Her eyes were burning with tears born out of fear and helplessness, and his were shining too as he took in her appearance. _This never lasts long_ , he said, an acceptance she couldn't understand in his tone. He cupped her cheek tenderly, brushing her hair out of her face slowly.

"I miss you so much," he laughed, his voice breaking, and it was too much for her to take - her tears fell, and he brushed them away too, the weight of his thumb familiar against her skin.

She remembered the warmth that sometimes made itself known during these last weeks - the sensations that made her feel better during a breakdown, when she thought she was alone. She thought about the multiple objects that were carefully fixed, she thought about the extra bed in the boys' side she didn’t question, she thought about the harsh way she was tugged away from a cliff, when nothing and no one was here to do it. She thought about the growing number of notes she had discarded, about her happiness that had seemingly disappeared for no reason months ago.

"It was you," she broke, putting her head on the crook of his neck in a desperate attempt to get him closer and never let go. "You’re the- the _ghost_ , you… You…"

Eugene hugged her back tightly. "The least I could do was protect you guys. It’s not because you don’t see me that I’m going to let you all get hurt when I can do something about it." He chuckled, but it sounded as empty as she felt before remembering him.

"How long- Since _Matthews_?" she asked, thinking back on the notes - and suddenly, it wasn’t hopelessness but hatred behind her tears, icy anger growing into her heart and making her tremble. It has… It has been months, since they left Matthews. Months that Eugene had to live like this. " _He_ did that to you?"

"Let’s say the guy was full of surprises. The thing about being able to make people forget stuff was way more serious than I thought," Eugene joked, always the first to make light of his situation, but Rapunzel couldn’t.

"I need- I need to remember this," she muttered, letting go of one of his hands as she reached for her journal in her bag.

"Blondie…"

"I’ll write your name, and what happened, and I’ll- I’ll fix this, Eugene, I promise," she insisted.

There was something so terribly wrong about the soft resignation of his face. He nodded, but Rapunzel felt sick, because she could see he didn’t believe she would succeed. And how could he, when she had failed him so thoroughly, forgetting the love of her life even though he was the only thing bringing light into her days. She didn’t want to go back to the lifeless and choking sadness of these last months. She didn’t want to feel cold, and lost, and alone again, because she was missing one of the most important person in her life. But more than that, more than the selfish desperation making her hang onto him, she didn’t want _Eugene_ to go back to this terrifying loneliness, invisible to all, forgotten by all. She didn’t want him to risk his life for them, she didn’t want him to believe no one loved him, and she was terrified that- that he would get hurt, and no one would know. No one would care, not even him.

_She_ wouldn’t know. _She_ wouldn’t care. If she forgot again, she- She…

"Come on," she muttered, grabbing blindly for a pen because she refused to let go of him, be it with her hand or with her eyes. She put her journal on the bed; it was closer than the table. "Here, wait, I’ll- I’ll write it." She scribbled his name quickly, as he silently held her hand. She felt as if he was trying to comfort her, and it was all wrong, because he was the one that needed to be saved, not her.

"Don’t forget to take care of yourself," Eugene said gently, and she could feel her eyes blur with tears again, as she finished her message.

"Don’t do that," she begged, meeting his gaze again. He looked about to cry too. "Don’t say goodbye, I… I’ll save you, I swear, please don’t- don’t-"

"I love you, Sunshine," he said anyway, and before she could protest, he kissed her, his lips soft and warm and oh so familiar against hers. She kissed back harshly, desperate to make him understand how much she loved him, how much she had missed him without even knowing, how much he meant to her - things that could never be put into words correctly.

The pen she had used rolled off the bed when Eugene took a step back and his legs pressed on the edge of the mattress. She opened her eyes when it hit the ground, startled.

When had she stood up?

Her lips were tingling, and Rapunzel touched them softly, a little lost. She felt better than when she had rushed in the caravan - maybe she had simply needed a little time alone. She picked the pen from the ground, noticing her journal being wide open on the bed, next to the novel she had been more or less reading. Carefully, she picked it up too, and noticed the messily written words in one of the pages. It was her handwriting, there was no doubt about it, but she couldn't remember ever writing this - and she was pretty sure she wouldn't have ruined one of the pages of her journal for something like this.

"Save…," she read aloud, cocking her head at the unrecognisable word next to it. The first letter seemed to be an F, or an E, but she couldn't be sure, because ink was covering it nearly entirely. "Save E., Matthews made us forget?" she finished uncertainly.

Huh. It was another one of _those_ notes. Maybe Lance was right about the caravan being haunted, and whoever was that ghost, it had a bone to pick with Matthews.

Well, sadly for the ghost, Matthews was gone, and Rapunzel had no desire to go search for him. Already, she could feel the weight that had left her momentarily come back, a loneliness she couldn't shake taking hold of her once again. She was too tired to investigate this mystery - if there was a ghost, it would have to reveal itself and its intentions because she wasn't going to play this game.

Before leaving, she picked up _The Tales of Flynnigan Rider_ too, and decided to take it in her side of the caravan. It was the only thing that made her feel happy in months, and whoever had brought it along could ask her if they wanted it back.

As she held the book, Rapunzel thought she felt something warm brush against her hand, but there was nothing here. She left the room without a second look.

**Author's Note:**

> ... at least he's not dead? fhgddsjqd I'M SORRY
> 
> Tbh I have distant memories of reading a story like this one as a kid but I can't remember much. I'm just... Someone being here but being forgotten at the same time gets to me i guess :') Also the idea of Eugene watching over everyone despite remaining unseen... aaaaaah
> 
> At first I just wanted the caravan to be haunted, because why not, but killing Eugene is not something I'm able to do fghddjs so here, tada! I hope you liked this?? And see you next time, I hope!!


End file.
